“We will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea,” Trump said, before calling Kim by a nickname he gave the dictator on Twitter over the weekend. “Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself.”

Trump added, “If the righteous many do not confront the wicked few, then evil will triumph.”

What I heard of it was a very disturbing speech. In this case, it was even more terrifying because he was reading off a teleprompter, so he sounded so much less bumbling and impulsive, and more . . . like a despot.

What I heard of it was a very disturbing speech. In this case, it was even more terrifying because he was reading off a teleprompter, so he sounded so much less bumbling and impulsive, and more . . . like a despot.

I'd feel embarrassed for you guys, if I wasn't so aware that as the US' hat, Canada will get it's fair share of fallout if it comes to nuclear Armageddon.

So instead, I'll just be worried.

Quote:

It is up to us whether we will lift the world to new heights or let it fall into a valley of disrepair

I'd feel embarrassed for you guys, if I wasn't so aware that as the US' hat, Canada will get it's fair share of fallout if it comes to nuclear Armageddon.

Fall out might be the least of Canada's problems. The missile route goes over Canada (except for missiles targeting the US west coast), and given the minimal experience the N. Koreans have had in intercontinental missiles, the likelihood of one or more landing short is pretty high.

Fall out might be the least of Canada's problems. The missile route goes over Canada (except for missiles targeting the US west coast), and given the minimal experience the N. Koreans have had in intercontinental missiles, the likelihood of one or more landing short is pretty high.

Like they say "Close only counts with Nuclear weapons and hand grenades!"

The fact remains that any nuclear holocaust targeted at the US would have unpleasant repercussions for us in the hat...

Mr. Kim condemned Mr. Trump’s threat to “totally destroy” North Korea if the United States is forced to defend itself, and he declared that it had “convinced me, rather than frightening or stopping me, that the path I chose is correct and that it is the one I have to follow to the last.”

I'm thinking our best course of action is to find a kindergarten teacher as they are used to this level of maturity*.

* Apologies to actual 4 to 6 year old children.

I'm glad you apologized for your slur against 4 to 6 year old children. Kids of that age overflow with abundant curiosity and are capable of demonstrating empathy when it comes to the feelings of others. Plus, no matter how irritating they may be, there's still the hope that they will grow the NFBSK up and become a mature adult who contributes to society in a meaningful manner.

All this is more than what can be said about Trump. Given that he's a grown-ass adult in his seventies, barring a visit from three ghosts, Trump will be the same Shitstain of a human he already is until he dies. Thanks to him, we're fondly nostalgic about the Bush II presidency. Bush II was terrible, but he did care about something besides himself. Even his vice is better than Trump. And by better, I mean in terms of competence, not morality. I'm fairly certain Dick Cheney is this universe's equivalent of Randall Flagg.

Trump has got me crossing my fingers, hoping and praying that the hereditary dictator of a totalitarian state, will demonstrate some rationality, back down, and save all of us. Dammit!

Well, in further worrying developments, Trump has started B1 bomber flights off the coast of North Korea (outside their internationally recognised territorial space, but within the 50-mile range that North Korea apparently tries to claim as their own).

And that, together with a tweet he sent the other day, is enough for the North Korean foreign minister to claim that Trump has "declared war" on them:

“However, last weekend Trump claimed that our leadership won’t be around much longer, and hence at last he declared war on our country,” Ri said, speaking to journalists through an interpreter outside the UN general assembly in New York. “Given the fact that this came from someone who holds the seat of the US presidency, this is clearly a declaration of war.”

Ri added: “Since the United States declared war on our country, we will have every right to make counter-measures, including the right to shoot down United States strategic bombers even when they are not yet inside the airspace border of our country.”

Not unreasonably, they think that these bomber flights look exactly like the prelude to a surprise attack. They probably aren't - just Trump trying to look strong as usual - but it's hardly a big leap on the Koreans' part to get jumpy...

Apparently North Korea shot down US aircraft in 1966 and 1994 under similar circumstances, but if that happens now it seems a great deal more likely to lead to something drastic.

Quote:

Vipin Narang, an expert on the Korean peninsula showdown at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said that the Pyongyang regime “really hates the B-1B flights. They’re clearly making the regime nervous about a surprise attack. This is how war by miscalculation starts.”

“Yesterday’s flight went further north than any this century, though still in international airspace east of DPRK,” Narang said. “But Kim seems to be worried, and reasonably so, that such a flight is exactly how a surprise decapitation or counterforce strike could start. So what we intend as a ‘show of strength’ could easily be mistaken as a prelude to a surprise attack, forcing Kim to go preemptively.”

He said: “It is unclear to me what the more aggressive shows of strength achieve – we can deter DPRK and reassure our allies in a multitude of other ways that are less risky and don’t throw poison ivy all over Kim’s itchy finger trigger.”

Vipin Narang, an expert on the Korean peninsula showdown at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said that the Pyongyang regime “really hates the B-1B flights. They’re clearly making the regime nervous about a surprise attack. This is how war by miscalculation starts.”

However horrible the North Korean government may be, as far as I'm concerned, they have every right to be unnerved by the flights. It goes without saying that if all-out war breaks out, Trump will act like his attack is comparable to the landing at Normandy, but really it would be the conflict equivalent of sending nearly every heavyweight boxing champion up against a ninety-five pound asthmatic. We all know how it's going to end: in a brutal, lopsided match that winds up punishing some 25 million people guilty of being born in the wrong country.

North Korea knows all this. It is well aware of the fact that if all out war breaks out, they'll lose and lose hard. But they still want to remind people that they matter, dammit! so they do the political equivalent of playing Chicken on the railroad tracks: get everybody fired up enough to pay attention to you, but no so fired up that they would actually do anything to you.

Unfortunately, Trump is completely lacking in any and all pertinent knowledge of government and world affairs, in addition to completely lacking in any natural curiosity whatsoever, so yeah, we've got shit like this going on, where everyone's praying for North Korea to be the voice of reason.

Stuff like this also plays well for their propaganda department. They don't even have to do any creative editing or translating: just show it as is on state television and let their citizens know that the evil United States is threatening to kill them all. Stay strong and support the glorious leader who vow to protect you and all that.

Yes, you want to say to Trump, "Everybody already knows that the USA is much stronger than North Korea, including the North Koreans! Apparently the only person you're trying to prove this to is yourself!"

I get the impression that it's not about the United States' strengh, but about Trump's strenght. "See, I can start a war like other Presidents did! And it's the bestest war, and it's huge! Better than Obama who never started a war! Sad!"

ETA: Seoul, home to more than 9.7 million people, is less than 60 kilometers from the North Korean border. Artillery guns of North Korean manufacture can reach the city from the demilitarized zone.

Twitter Promises to Clarify Rules in Wake of Trump North Korea Threat Tweets

Twitter said Monday that President Donald Trump's weekend tweet warning that North Korea "won't be around much longer!" didn't violate its terms of service, which it said it would clarify publicly at a later date.